In 1984, through the exchange of diplomatic notes, the question was
settled. The Mundatwald was declared to be under German sovereignty,
but French property, with the exception of those parts that were
already in possession of Germans at the date of 23 April 1949 (Date
of the transfer of the Mundatwald from Germany, then under
occupation, to France, although not through annexation by France, by
the French military authorities), and the castle ruin of Guttenberg.
In exchange, France was to get other territory as property, land that
borders on the Mundatwald. I think this is the territory mentioned in
art. 1 in http://www.droit.org/jo/19940628/MAEJ9430039D.html .
It is interesting to see this decision contested in http://www.mpiv-
hd.mpg.de/de/r8693/r8693_204.cfm . Because the German constitution
came into force one month after the transfer of 23 April 1949
(Ordonnance no. 212), it was argued that the territory never belonged
to the Federal Republic, so the juridical basis on which the 1984
treaty was based (Federal German law) didn't apply. In other words:
the territory in question didn't belong to the German Federal
Republic, but to the German Empire, and could not be transferred by
the FRG to the French Republic at all! A curator acting for the now
defunct German Empire was appointed by a lower court, but this
decision was eventually overthrown.
It really makes fascinating reading!
Peter S.
--- In BoundaryPoint@y..., peter.smaardijk@a... wrote:
> A "virtual" territory (probably not an enclave) in the way Arif
> describes it is the Mundatwald, a forest in Germany, just over the
> border from the French town of Wissembourg (Weissenburg). According
to
> http://communes.quid.fr/WEB/GEOPHYS/FR/Q016420.HTM , the forest was
> given to the abbey of Wissembourg in the 8th century by Pepin the
> Short, and was exempt from taxation by a grant from Otto II
(probably
> the German emperor at the time). After Napoleons fall from power,
the
> border was redrawn along the river Lauter, and France lost 2/3 of
the
> forest. In 1983 (conference of Dabo between the French president
> Mitterand and the German federal chancellor Kohl), it was decided
that
> the forest was French property, but German territory.
>
> On a road map I can find two Mundatwalds: the Oberer Mundatwald,
n.w.
> of Wissembourg, and the Unterer Mundatwald, due east of Wissembourg.
>
> Peter S.
>
> --- In BoundaryPoint@y..., Arif Samad <fHoiberg@y...> wrote:
> > I will be touching on a few subjects.
> > First of all, have you guys checked up on the size of
> > Zubara and associated land that Bahrain claimed on
> > Qatar on map 2. This would have almost doubled the
> > area of Bahrain. The situation in Arabia is almost
> > always due to differing concepts of sovereignty from
> > the muslim and western perspectives and causes the
> > mess.
> > Secondly, we really need to see the Namibia island
> > maps from the book "Walvis Bay" to understand what the
> > situation was (if the map is correct). It isn't as
> > simple as straight baselines and 200 mile limits.
> > Thirdly, I am collecting "virtual" enclaves where a
> > country owns or owned a piece of territory in a
> > different land but not sovereignty. Obviously, I
> > could include many embassies, but that would make the
> > list too big and I am ignoring them. But the source
> > of Seine virtual enclave is first I have seen in the
> > state level if it happens to be just ownership by
> > Paris. Does anybody know of a place where I can
> > research whether the source is a virtual or real
> > enclave or not.
> > Arif
> >
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